Possibilities
by twifantasyfan
Summary: Three possibilities for what may come after "Wolf and His Girl" and "Party Crashers".
1. Chapter 1

Okay, a little explanation to start with:

I'm still working on both "The Wolf and His Girl" and "Party Crashers" and will finish both. But I have started thinking ahead to what I might work on next. I've got a few ideas going and would like to know what my amazing readers might like.

What I'll do here is post three sample chapters from these story ideas. I invite you to read them and see what sings to you. I'm going to put a poll on my profile page so that you can vote on the story idea you like best. End results are ultimately dependent on my muse, of course.

Option 1 is "Alpha and Omega", a Bella/Sam story. It will be AU from the beginning, and start before the original Twilight book.

Option 2 is "Defection", a wolf-centric story. My thought when writing it was that it would be a Jake's pack POV of Breaking Dawn from the point where the pack learns Bella and Edward are back from their honeymoon and Bella's sick. I've since begun to consider the possibility of just turning it into a wolf POV version of all of Breaking Dawn.

Option 3 is "Jagged Edges Heal", a Bella/Embry story. It starts in New Moon, a couple months after the Cullens left (in the middle of the 'blank pages' part. It would be AU from the point of Bella's zombie phase not lasting as long as it did in the book.

Feel free to comment with reviews, and vote on the poll.


	2. Chapter 2

AN: I clearly have a pack obsession, because here I am starting another Bella/wolf story. Hope you enjoy.

"I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may now kiss the bride." With the minister's blessing, Phil leaned in and planted a deep kiss on my mom's lips. It went on a little too long, and the minister had to clear his throat. Everyone (not that there were too many people here) laughed, including my mom.

I still wasn't sure exactly what I thought about my mom getting married again. It had been just her and me for a long time. Renee had married my dad, Charlie Swan, pretty quickly after meeting him at the University of Washington. Why exactly she'd left her hot dry hometown of Phoenix for the cool wet climate of Washington, I'd never understood. That was Renee, though, quirky and unpredictable. They'd quickly fallen in love, and just as quickly eloped, had me, and divorced. They were polar opposites in personality and had nothing in common, plus it hadn't taken long for Renee to realize she couldn't stand small-town life, especially in the tiny Olympic Peninsula town of Forks where Charlie had grown up. It hadn't even been a year after my birth when Renee had walked out on Charlie and taken me with her. I'd seen him for two weeks every summer, but otherwise it had been just the two of us, mom and me.

I'd spent my growing-up years mostly in Phoenix, although every so often my mom had taken it into her head to try someplace new-I'd been to multiple elementary schools as a result. We'd always come back to Phoenix, and had even stayed here all through my middle school years, a fact for which I was grateful. Staying here had also put her in the way of meeting a minor-league baseball player named Phil Dwyer, who was five years her junior. They'd taken things slower than she had with my dad, but Phil had popped the question and now they'd just gotten married.

Now I had a step-dad. Phil was a nice guy, and I knew how crazy he was about mom. But it had to be a challenge for him, gaining an almost-fifteen-year-old stepdaughter. I had a feeling I'd be putting a crimp into their newlywed lifestyle.

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It didn't take long for me to figure out my feeling had been right. Phil traveled a lot with his team, and Renee really wanted to go with him. She'd brought me along a few times, but I wasn't interested in hanging out at the ballpark all day the way she did-baseball just wasn't my thing, but then neither was anything else that required even the slightest amount of physical coordination-or in sitting in a motel room.

I actually felt relief when Charlie called and asked if I wanted to spend any time with him this summer; he offered another trip to California, like we'd done the last couple years, but (and I still couldn't figure out why) I'd said that Forks would be okay. I wasn't any fonder of the weather up there than Renee, but I'd lived out of a suitcase enough in the last month or so that I wasn't interested in one more time.

When I got to Seattle, Charlie was waiting for me, police cruiser and all. I was grateful I didn't see anyone I knew-this was beyond embarrassing. It was a surprise when we made a stop before heading west.

"I thought you might like to hit this bookstore before we leave," Charlie suggested. "I remember how much you like reading, and the library in town doesn't have much. Might be a good idea to stock up."

"Thanks Ch-dad," I remembered just in time that he really didn't like me calling him "Charlie".

We ended up stopping at the diner in Forks for dinner-Charlie admitting with a red face that he hadn't been to the grocery store this week. It was going to be a whole year before I could get my learner's permit, so I figured I'd just have to give him detailed lists to take to the store, or else we'd end up eating pizza or diner food every night. Within a few days of my arrival, I amended that list to pizza, diner food, or fish. Trying to change his eating habits might end up being as fruitful as Sisyphus' efforts, but I was still going to try.

I mostly spent the first weekend settling in and figuring out what kinds of things Charlie had on hand and what he'd have to go shop for. Otherwise, I took advantage of the relatively nice weather and spread a blanket out on the lawn to read books, usually my favorite classics. But I did actually get a start on some of the required freshman-year readings, some of which I'd actually already read before.

At the end of the week, Charlie asked me if I was interested in coming down to La Push, the local tribe's reservation that weekend.

"Dad...I'm still not much on fishing..." I hedged. It wasn't that I wanted to spend my time up here cooped up in the house-I didn't-but neither did I want to be trapped in a boat holding a pole.

"Kinda figured that, Bells," Charlie smirked. "Thought you might enjoy meeting some of the local kids. Think they spend nice days down at the beach."

I thought about it for a moment. The only kids I remembered spending time with were Billy's kids: Rachel, Rebecca, and Jacob, and them rarely enough. But I'd promised myself to try and stretch my personal boundaries in high school, and this was probably a good time to start. "Sure, dad. Sounds like fun."

When Charlie pulled his cruiser into the Clearwater's driveway, a teenage girl was sitting perched on the porch railing. She hopped down when I got out of the car.

"Hey, Leah," Charlie greeted. "Your dad ready?"

"Yeah. He's just getting the cooler from mom with your lunches in it."

"Bells, this is Harry's daughter Leah. Leah, my daughter, Bella. She's visiting from Arizona for a while this summer." We exchanged nods.

"Do you still need to change into your swimsuit?" Leah asked me.

"No, I wasn't sure if there was going to be a place to change so I took care of it at home."

"Okay. Well, my mom wants to meet you, and then we can head to the beach. The others are going to meet us there."

Harry's wife, Sue, was a nice woman with a friendly face framed by long dark hair.

"Welcome back, Bella," she greeted me.

"Thanks."

"How is your mom?"

"She's fine. She just got married at the beginning of the summer, and she's traveling with her new husband right now."

"I'm sure she's enjoying that. If you would, be sure to tell her I said hello."

"I will. Now, here's some snacks for you two to take along. Have a good time."

"Thanks, mom." Leah gave her a quick hug, grabbed the food, and directed me out the door.

"How many people are going to be there?" I asked, while gravel crunched under my feet.

"Maybe a dozen or so, just kids from school, and my boyfriend, Sam."

The path down to the beach was fairly easy, though I kept my eyes on the ground just in case. The last thing I wanted was to have my usual clumsiness reassert itself and cause me to do a face-plant in front of these new kids. At the moment, they didn't seem to have noticed Leah and I yet—too busy playing a game of touch-football. That changed when one looked our way.

"Lee-Lee!" A tall, lean guy abandoned the game and ran over, picking Leah up and swinging her around in a circle.

"Put me down!" she commanded. As soon as he did, she pulled his head down for a kiss. After she let him go, she turned back to me. "Sam, this is Bella, Chief Swan's daughter. She's visiting from Phoenix for a little while this summer. Bella, this is my boyfriend, Sam Uley."

His hand extended to me, and I took it automatically. I had to look up to meet his dark eyes."

"Hi."

"Welcome to La Push. This your first trip?"

"No. Well, I'm not sure. I used to visit Charlie—my dad here during the summer, and he's been friends with Billy Black since, well, forever, so I've probably been before, but I don't remember much."


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or its characters. I started this idea back at the beginning of my fanfic publication career (Feb. 2010), but put it on the back-burner since then. I polished this up to see if I could start a new story, since the fanfiction site wasn't letting me update either of my in-progress stories (unfortunately, it didn't work; still, you get it anyway). I do plan to work more on this, but want to wrap at least one of those other stories up first. I've never been much of a book-Leah fan, but maybe this will help me explore how she might have been feeling, and why. This starts up in Breaking Dawn, after Seth has reported that Bella and Edward are back from their honeymoon and Bella's sick. It may end up being something of a Jake's-pack POV of the Breaking Dawn book. Anything recognizable isn't mine.

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Leah POV

"I hate this place," I muttered, kicking at the gravel of the road I was walking down even though I was wearing a pair of flip-flops. Whoever'd said 'home is where the heart is' was trying to feed a load of bull. To me, home was now nothing but pain, constant reminders of things I wanted to forget but would never be able to. The worst part was wanting to leave, but knowing I couldn't; the curse of my bloodlines meant I was tied here with unbreakable and invisible chains. And how I hated it, being forced to stay near the man I'd once loved, the man who'd broken my heart and the cousin of mine he'd broken it for. Almost as if I'd conjured him up, a howl I knew was Sam's echoed from deep in the woods. _What now?_

I turned away from the road with a grimace; ignoring the Alpha wasn't an option. Once in the concealing trees, I stripped off my tank top and shorts with an economy of motion and phased. Instantly, the cacophony of voices hammered my mind. No one seemed to know what this was all about, but somehow knew that it had to be big. The loudest thoughts of all were coming from Jacob, who'd also just phased. He was thinking back to that farce of a wedding a few weeks ago, and how he'd almost lost it on the bloodsuckers' home turf. How badly he'd wanted to see that leech Bella Swan had just married dead, if Bella and his friends hadn't been in the way, if Sam hadn't alpha-ordered him to stand down…

_So self-absorbed all the time_, I thought. His thoughts had been running along these lines for over a year now, ever since the bloodsuckers had come back to town, and I for one was sick and tired of it.

_Yeah, no hypocrisy there, Leah,_ he shot back. I fought the urge to keep things going, refusing as always to consider whether he might be right.

_Can it, guys_, Sam ordered. I couldn't help the wince when my ex used that word: 'guys'. Just because I was the only one lacking a certain piece of equipment… _Where's Quil and Jared?_ Sam moved on, once again ignoring whatever I might need or want, being the all-powerful Alpha like usual.

_Quil's got Claire,_ Jacob reported. _He's taking her to the Clearwaters'._

_Good. Sue will take her._

_Jared was going to Kim's,_ Embry informed us. _Good chance he didn't hear you._ We all groaned at that. One of the worst parts of being in the pack was the utter and complete lack of privacy where our thoughts were concerned. I hated seeing Sam's thoughts of Emily, knowing he'd once thought of me in that same way; another thing I ignored was whether he liked it any better than I did. Sam threw his head back and howled again, a demand for Jared's immediate presence, his imprint be damned.

I tried to focus on stretching my limbs out as I raced to join the rest of the pack. The sounds of Jacob's footfalls grew nearer, but by common and unspoken consent we stayed on our own tracks.

_Well, we're not waiting all day for him. He'll just have to catch up later,_ Sam decided.

_'Sup, boss?_ This from Paul. If there was anything at all I found amusing about the whole imprinting business, it was that Jacob was now having to deal with Paul 24/7 since Paul'd imprinted on Jake's sister Rachel.

_We need to talk. Something's happened. _For some reason, Sam and the kids started thinking _Jacob. Seth, tell them what you heard._

Both Jacob and I sped up at that, racing faster to join the others. I poured on all the speed I had; I loved rubbing it in all their faces, but especially Jacob's, that I was the fastest wolf. Sam was annoyed, as usual, but we ignored him, as usual.

_Seth?_ Sam focused on my little brother instead.

_Charlie called around till he found Billy at my house._ Seth began. Charlie had been our dad's good friend and fishing partner, and he'd been trying to help mom out since dad's death this spring, so him calling wasn't a big deal. But 'calling around' for Billy Black implied there was something going on, and we all flashed to the likely reason why: Isabella Marie Swan Cullen. _Yeah, I talked to him_, Paul added.

_So he's all flipped out. Guess Edward and Bella got home last week and—_

_She's alive, _Jacob's relief rushed through our bonds. _I was sure she wouldn't come back…they'd just report her dead…_

_Yeah, bro, and here's the bad news. Charlie talked to her, said she sounded bad. She told him she's sick. Carlisle got on and told Charlie that Bella picked up some rare South American disease and she's quarantined. Charlie's going crazy 'cause he's not allowed to see her. Carlisle won't budge on it; says he's doing everything he can, but it's serious. Charlie's been stewing for days, but he only just called Billy now. He said she sounded worse today._

We all knew what this meant—had known from the day we'd first heard about that engagement. That Bella becoming a Cullen legally would inevitably be followed by her becoming a Cullen in that other way, too. Jacob's thoughts again overrode all others, though this time they were clear and logical. This disease was going to be her official cause of death, while she became a vampire. _Are they going to let him see her? She'll look so different, he'd have to notice. Wouldn't feel like a real dead person…could she even stay still? Wouldn't she try to kill every human who showed up to her funeral? Will they even have a funeral? Dig her up after or have her do it?_ It was appallingly impressive how much thought he'd put into this—probably as much thought as the leeches themselves.

Jacob and I finally reached the others at the same time. I dropped down next to Seth and Jacob took the spot Paul vacated next to Sam, his right as the second-in-command. He completely ignored my _Beatcha again_ comment. Jacob was filled with tension and expectation.

_Well, what are we waiting for?_ No one said anything—I don't think we knew whether there _was_ anything to say. _Come on, the treaty's broken!_

_We have no proof—maybe she **is** sick…_Seth suggested. Unlikely, but definitely possible where this girl and her luck were concerned. Considering how she attracted trouble and danger, it was all too likely that she had picked up some disease.

_Oh,please!_ Jacob snorted.

_Okay, so the circumstantial evidence is pretty strong, _Sam allowed. _Still, Jacob, are you sure this is what you want? Is this really the right thing? We all know what she wanted._

That had been one of the –no, _the_—big issues we'd had to deal with in the last couple months. We and the tribe's elders had gone round and round over what, if anything, we ought to do. The language of the treaty was clear and unequivocal, but we all realized that our ancestors had never considered the possibility of a human _wanting_ to become a vampire. Every last one of us had had our life-choices taken away from us by becoming wolves; did we really have the right to take away someone else's choice?

_The treaty doesn't mention anything about victim preferences, Sam,_ Jacob retorted, easily picking up on and dismissing our thoughts.

_Is she really a victim? Is that how you label her?_

_Yes._

_Jake,_ Seth thought toward our cousin, _they aren't our enemies._

_Shut up, kid Just 'cause you've got some kind of sick hero worship thing going on with that bloodsucker doesn't change the law. They are our enemies, are in our territory. We take out their kind. I don't care if you did have fun fighting beside Edward Cullen. _I bared my teeth and fought a growl as Jacob snarled at my baby brother that way. Seth gave back as good as he'd gotten, though.

_So what will you do when Bella fights with them, Jacob_? _Huh?_

_She's not Bella anymore._

_You gonna be the one to take her down?_ Seth kept on pushing. Maybe he'd be able to make Jacob see sense where no one else had. The strike hit home and Jacob visibly winced. _No, you're not. So, what? You gonna make one of us do it? Hold a grudge against whoever it is forever?_ Damn, my little brother was good.

_I wouldn't…_Jacob tried to insist.

Seth was justifiably skeptical. _Sure you won't. You're not ready for this fight, Jake._

Jacob seemed willing toargue the point, dropping from his ready posture into a crouch, eyes fixed on Seth's location across our circle.

_Jacob, _Sam warned. _Seth, shut up._

_Dang, what'd I miss?_ Quil's mind finally joined ours. _Heard about Charlie's call_. For being Jacob's friend, and the imprint of a toddler, Quil could be pretty quick on the uptake when he wanted to be.

_We're getting ready to go,_ Jacob informed him. _Swing by Kim's and drag Jared out with your teeth, why don't you? We're going to need everyone._

_Come straight here,_ Sam countermanded. _We've decided nothing yet._ Jacob's growl indicated his willingness to argue the point. Sam wasn't having it. _Jacob, I have to think about what's best for the pack. I have to choose the course that protects everyone the best. Times have changed. I, well, I don't believe the Cullens are a danger to us. We know they won't be here much longer. They'll tell their story and disappear. Our lives will go back to normal. _Sam's thoughts welcomed that idea. Not having to phase, no patrols. Finally getting his and Emily's wedding plans off the ground…

_Normal?_

_If we challenge them, Jacob, they will defend themselves._ We all involuntarily thought about those nights we'd watched the Cullens practicing those skills before the fight against that newborn army.

_Are you afraid?_ Jacob's thought-voice was scornful.

_Are you so ready to lose a brother? Or a sister?_ Sam's pause before that last bit wasn't missed, at least not by me.

_I'm not afraid to die._

_I know that. It's one reason I question your judgment on this._

I figured Jacob was distracted enough that he wasn't paying attention to me. I almost hated to, but I agreed with Sam on this one. Jacob wasn't running on all cylinders here. He'd been obsessed with Bella Swan for so long…he was like a kid who'd lost out on a prize or toy and was willing to destroy it just to keep the winner from getting to keep it. Just a case of sour grapes. At least I could pride myself on not stooping so low—I hadn't tried to break Sam and Emily up, after all.

_Do you intend to honor our fathers' treaty or not?_ Jacob demanded.

_I honor my pack and do what's best for them._

_Coward._ Jacob tensed, and for an insane second I actually thought he might turn on Sam.

_Enough, Jacob._ Sam's voice was filled now with that echo, that weight, that came from being our Alpha. His black eyes met those of every wolf in the circle. _The pack is not attacking the Cullens without provocation. The spirit of the treaty remains. They aren't a danger to us or to the people of Forks. Bella Swan has made an informed choice; we are not going to punish our former allies for her willing choice._

_Hear, hear,_ Seth chimed in.

_Thought I told you to shut it, Seth._

_Oops. Sorry, Sam._

_Jacob, where do you think you're going? _He'd left his spot and started heading for a gap in the line.

_I'm going to tell my dad goodbye. Apparently there wasn't a reason for me to stick around this long._ I think we all rocked back a little at what Jacob really meant. He was going to leave again, to go wolf like he had at the beginning of the summer, and he wasn't planning to come back.

_Aw, Jake, don't do that again!_ Seth urged, only to have Quil and Embry tell him to _Shut up!_

_We don't want you to leave…_

_Then order me to stay, Sam._

_I won't do that._

_Nothing more to say, then._ He put on a burst of speed and was almost immediately lost to sight. His only thoughts were of what he might say to his father. Billy would be crushed to have Jacob gone again—he'd barely smiled at all the whole time he'd been gone before. I wanted to hate him for running again, but the reasonable girl I'd once been envied him. What I wouldn't give to be able to do the same, to leave everything that hurt me behind. We were all still sitting in the clearing where he'd left us when the link connecting him to us was broken by his phase.

_Sam?_ Quil and Embry thought in unison.

_I won't force him to stay,_ Sam repeated. _He'll only be miserable here. All we can do is to let him know we're there for him and hope he'll come back again before long. Collin, Brady, let's get back to our patrol. The rest of you head home._

Seth and I ran together for a while, before he stopped a bit short of home. _Let's phase back so we can talk,_ he said. We turned away and found trees to phase behind. Just because I'd given him baths when he was little didn't mean I wanted to see my brother naked now.

"Leah? What do you think about all this?"

"I think Jacob really needs a reality check. Bella Swan isn't his and never was. He's got no right passing judgment on what she does. Granted, I don't like the choice she's making either, but that's not my call, or anyone's besides her."

"Edward's not a bad guy, you know. He really loves Bella, and she loves him, too. They deserve to be happy."

"I guess someone should get that." Spirits only knew that _I_ wouldn't.

Seth must've decided he'd pushed enough boundaries with Jacob today, because he didn't say anything in response. But, then, "If we go in the house now, we'll have to tell mom and Billy about this."

"Too late now." We were in sight of the house, and she was waiting for us on the porch, Claire perched on her hip. Billy wasn't there, so he must've headed home.

"What happened?" she asked us.


	4. Chapter 4

AN: Much as I wish I did, I don't own Twilight or anything related to it (besides my stories). I started this story when I was stuck with some writers' block for chapter 60 of "The Wolf and His Girl". I probably shouldn't be posting this now, especially with two in-progress stories going at the moment, plus grad school. Guess I'm a glutton for punishment or something.

Writing my Jared story has really helped me see how much I like the wolf pack. This gives me the chance to play with them again, but in a different vein than I have with either of my other stories. I have in mind to move on to another pack member later, and then maybe back to Jared again if I can come up with a different storyline for him.

So, to set this up: Twilight happened like SM wrote it. But in this story, the Cullens moved on early in the summer (instead of in the fall like in New Moon). Anyway, here you go (hoping for lots of OMG's like MC7575 gave when I showed her part of this back in early March).

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Bella POV

What passed for summer in Forks, Washington passed without much notice from me. To be honest, just about everything passed without notice from me. School was out, so I didn't have a place to spend my days or assignments to occupy my mind. Most of my acquaintances had gotten summer jobs to earn spending money or to put toward college in another year. Neither idea really interested me, and after a few tries, Charlie had stopped pushing the issue. I did go through the motions of grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning, and laundry, but otherwise, I did...nothing. I didn't read or listen to music; anything that reminded me of _him_ I avoided like the plague.

It had been-I had to rouse myself to check the calendar—more than two months now, and it seemed like an eternity and yet no time at all. Just after school had let out in June, I'd been freed from the cast I'd worn most of the spring, a souvenir of my run down to Phoenix to avoid a psychotic vampire named James. I'd come out of it alive, with help, but had gotten a broken leg for my trouble. For the rest of the school year, I'd had to suffer through Charlie's guilt trips, Alice's perky over-helpfulness, and _him._ His withdrawn moroseness had reminded me of those first few weeks of our acquaintance, when he'd either watched me obsessively or ignored me religiously. He hadn't quite gone to either extreme the second time around, but even when he'd been with me physically, there had been a widening gulf of silence, one I'd tried with decreasing success to bridge.

If I hadn't been afraid of injuring myself, I'd've tried dancing for joy when the cast came off—Alice did enough of that for me. I had been happy that day. The whole summer stretched in front of me, and I had expected to spend most of it with the new family I'd found. The reality…It had only been a little over a week after my release that E—he had stopped by the house and invited me for a walk. "You need to practice using those muscles again," he'd said. Never in my darkest nightmare up to that point could I have imagined what was about to happen…

"_Bella, we're leaving."_

"_Why? Another year—"_

"_It's time. How much longer_ _can we stay here, really? Carlisle doesn't look anything close to the thirty-three years he's claiming. We'd have to leave soon anyway."_

_There was a growing pit in my stomach. "When you say we-?" I couldn't believe I'd gotten the question out, hoping even as I said the words that he wasn't implying what I thought he was._

"_I mean my family and myself."_

_He couldn't be meaning…could he? "I'm coming, too. I just have to find a reason to give Charlie."_

"_No, Bella. You're staying here."_

"_No, I'm not. We belong together. If you go, I go."_

"_I don't want you to come."_

_I stared at him, unable to believe what I'd just heard. "You—don't—want—me?" If he didn't want me to come with them, he was really saying he didn't want me._

"_I shouldn't have let this go on so long—I should never have let it begin in the first place."_

"_What?" He wished none of it—us—had ever happened? Why was he saying this?_

"_I'm tired of pretending, Bella. This isn't good; it can't ever be good." _

_I didn't say anything. There wasn't anything I __**could **__say. I knew only too well that I wasn't good enough for him. All he was doing was saying it aloud._

"_It will be like I never existed, as if we never met. You can go on with your life the way it should be. Just, please, don't do anything stupid or reckless." With movement too quick for me to see, he came close, pressed a cool kiss to my forehead, and was gone before I could refocus my eyes._

I didn't really remember trying to follow him, or curling up under a tree when I'd fallen yet again and couldn't make myself get up, or being found untold hours later. I _did _recall throwing a tantrum a few days later when Charlie had tried to send me to Florida with Renee. My mom had gone back home, leaving Charlie to try and deal with me. Mostly that had involved longer fishing trips with Billy Black and Harry Clearwater—though at least Charlie had Harry's wife Sue take care of the resulting fish so I didn't have to. I generally stayed in my room when I could, just staring out the windows. I tried every day to email Alice, but each attempt was followed by a "recipient not found" error message. I guessed it shouldn't have surprised me: _"It will be as if I never existed,"_ would have to include his family too, right?

My senior year of high school started in a fog, and I couldn't help the automatic daily glance across the parking lot to the stall where his car had always parked. It was almost funny how no one wanted to take over the spot, even though it was prime real estate and everyone knew they'd moved away and wouldn't be using it. Angela had broken up with Eric over the summer, and made sure I knew she was thinking about me.

"Life sucks sometimes, doesn't it?" she said.

"Yeah," I muttered. I'd been unable to come up with an excuse to avoid the post-school-day jaunt down to the diner for milkshakes, and was absently rolling my straw around the rim of the mug.

"Guys suck, too."

I shrugged. It wasn't like I hadn't known it was too good to be true, him being interested in me, so part of me found it hard to blame him for doing what I'd known was bound to happen eventually.

"Do you have plans after school?" Angela asked me.

I shrugged again. I didn't think that staring at the walls of my bedroom or out the window really counted as a plan.

"Come to my house. We can watch a movie." Quiet Angela might be, but she was clearly not planning on letting me wallow in my misery any further without putting up a fight. With a sigh, I gave in.

"Okay."

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I'd flatly nixed the idea of any kind of birthday party, even if it was the all-important 18th. I just wasn't in the mood to celebrate anything, much less the fact that I was now technically older than Edward. I did expect that Charlie would drag me out of the house to the diner for dinner—there was no way he'd let me cook dinner on my own birthday. I ended up only being half right. Dragged out of the house, I was, but not to the diner.

"Where are we going?" I asked, once I realized we'd turned onto the highway leading out of town.

"It's not a party, don't worry. Sue just invited us to their house for dinner with the family."

"Ch-dad..."

"It's just dinner, Bells. And maybe…maybe you can talk to Sue and Harry's daughter Leah. Her boyfriend broke up with her a while back, so maybe she can help or listen or something."

I didn't answer. What could I possibly say to someone I didn't know, especially about what had really happened? Especially to a member of the tribe that didn't like the Cullens at all? "Maybe," I hedged.

Harry Clearwater was waiting outside his house with a gangly boy, who he introduced as his son Seth. His wife Sue and their daughter Leah greeted us inside the house, and ushered us right to the table.

"In honor of having guests for dinner, we are having…" Sue paused dramatically, "something other than fish." My eyes met Leah's right then, and couldn't help an involuntary, if faint, echo of her grin. When dinner was over, I started to help gather the dirty dishes. Sue stopped me, saying, "Guests don't help clean up in this house. You girls can go join the guys in the living room if you want, but be warned, they've turned a game on."

"I think we'll go to my room, if that okay with you, Bella," Leah offered.

"Sure." I still wasn't sure if I really wanted to talk much, but it had to be better than watching some sporting event. I found myself standing in front of a small bookcase in her bedroom, looking over the collection of paperbacks.

"You like to read?" Leah asked.

"I guess. I used to, but lately…"

"…you don't want to do anything, least of all listen to people who don't know what you're going through trying to make you feel better..."

"…when they don't—can't—understand that nothing will do that." Our eyes met again, and I realized that she did understand this most important thing.

"I think you're luckier than I am, though, in a way. At least your parents aren't defending the jerk who dumped you." Leah's mouth twisted and she flopped down onto her bed.

"Yours are?" I couldn't imagine how I'd feel if Charlie or Renee was defending _him_ to me.

"Yeah. Sam—that's the jerk's name—can do no wrong as far as my parents are concerned. We'd been dating for a couple years when he just disappeared one day."

"Disappeared?"

"Vanished into thin air. I was going crazy—his mom, too. It was almost three weeks later before he just walked in his front door, like he'd only been gone for the day. He was back, but he wasn't the same. He wasn't my Sam anymore, he was…different. He wouldn't talk about where he'd been, he'd snap at the littlest things. I tried to understand, but he wouldn't explain anything. A few weeks later, I was venting to my cousin and she came down to make me feel better. She said she was going to give Sam a piece of her mind for how he was treating me; he took one look at her and dumped me like a hot potato. They've been all lovey-dovey ever since, and even got engaged this spring."


End file.
